Redoil

I. BACKGROUND

Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc. and Shell Offshore, Inc. (collectively “Shell”) purchased lease blocks1 in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off the North Slope of Alaska for oil and gas exploration. Shell plans to conduct this exploration via its drillship, the Discoverer, along with an associated fleet of support vessels, including icebreakers, oil spill response vessels, and a supply ship. As required by the Act, Shell applied for permits to emit pollutants in connection with its

1 Outer Continental Shelf lease blocks are defined geographic areas over the outer continental shelf that identify federal land ownership and facilitate the management of offshore resources.

REDOIL V . EPA

exploration activities. The EPA granted the permits, which were upheld in two administrative appeals to the EAB. Petitioners, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands, an environmental organization, and other environmental groups (collectively “REDOIL”), challenge the permits on the basis that they do not satisfy the Act’s air permit requirements. Shell intervened to oppose REDOIL’s petitions.

Two permits are at issue, one for operation in the…